


My Pet

by Wind_Ryder



Series: Tumblr Fics [21]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Friends to Enemies, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Steve as the Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:17:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5217641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wind_Ryder/pseuds/Wind_Ryder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anonymous asked: Do u think u could do a bit where steve is the winter soldier? Maybe his recovery?</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Pet

He call him Steve, and he accepts it as his name.  _He_ is a soldier. He says his name is Bucky Barnes. “James Buchanan Barnes,” he introduces wryly the first time they meet. His eyes are lost and sprinkled with tears, but he holds himself together. He looks at  _Steve_  and he says his name, and Steve stares at him. “My friends call me Bucky,” James Buchanan Barnes adds on, letting his eyes fall to the floor. 

His friends have poor taste in names. He doesn’t say it. He stares at James and James stares at the floor, and nothing productive occurs. 

“Okay.” James nods firmly. Decision made. He looks up. He smiles. “I’d like to be friends.” 

 _Steve_ spreads his lips to bare his teeth. A grin. “You’d make friends with the devil?” he asks. 

James is stubborn. “I’d make friends with you.” 

***

James rarely leaves him alone. He puts his life in Steve’s hands, and Steve watches James with the tolerance of a caged cat. James is a plaything. A toy mouse. Wind him up and watch him go. He likes to see how far he can push. He can push a lot.

James never says no.

Steve’s broken him. He’s lashed out. He’s wrapped his hands around James’ throat. He’s kicked him. He’s bit him. He’s pressed a blade into James’s stomach and he’s stared him in the eye as he waited for James to take his last breath. 

“Steve?” he always asked. “Do you remember me?” The answer is no. James is and means nothing. There is no remembering. There is only testing. 

Someone always interferes before Steve can kill James. When James comes back, bandaged and healed, he always smiles. “You could have ended it sooner if you wanted me dead.” He lies down in Steve’s cage, and gives himself up to Steve’s amusement. 

“One day, I will kill you,” Steve warns. 

“No,” James smiles. “You won’t.”

***

James is a martyr. He tells Steve about who they were. Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Heroes. Brothers. Something more. Steve listens. He nods his head. He pretends that James’ propaganda is real. No one believed James when he said Steve was Captain America.  _Steve_  doesn’t believe James when he says it. James keeps saying it. He keeps insisting it’s true.

“That kid is one of my best friends,” Tony Stark warns Steve the night after he stabbed James in the stomach with a shiv. “If you kill him, there’s nothing that will stop me from tearing you apart.” 

Steve laughs at him. He’d like to see him try.

James comes back. He always comes back. He smiles at Steve. He tells him he believes in him. He pushes everyone else away. “You’re all I have.”

“I’m all you want,” Steve corrects. 

“It’s the same thing.” 

So it is. 

***

James is easy to manipulate. Easy to fool. Steve bides his time. He waits for the opportunity. He uses James’ hope against him. “My mother…” he starts.

James freezes. He’s sitting by the fake window, watching fake birds fly outside. He turns to look at Steve.

“She…was Catholic.” 

“Y-yeah. Yeah, she was. You are too.” 

Steve moves forwards. James lets him draw close. He shifts so his body language is open. Inviting. “You were always at our house.” Tears fill James’ eyes.

“Yes. Always.” 

“You have sisters.” 

“Yes, three.” James had told him all of this before. None of this is new. He’s just never acknowledged it. “S-Steve?” James asks him breathlessly. 

“Bucky?” Steve asks back. 

James pitches forwards. He grabs hold of Steve’s arms. Then his shoulders. His face. He tugs him in for a tight hug, and Steve hugs him back. He lets James sob against his chest. He says all the right words. He’s learned enough about Steve Rogers to pretend. 

Someday soon, James would let him free from this prison. Free to live life as Steve Rogers. And when he left as the Winter Soldier, he knew James would follow. 

His pet would follow him everywhere, and frankly, he’d always wanted a dog.


End file.
